Articles by Arup Banerji

During most of the lifespan of the Soviet Union, history and historiography remained subject to specific restrictive constraints. It was during the last few years pending its demise that an "unleashing of the energy of history" produced a flood of new work in various genres, that fundamentally challenged received wisdom. The foci of this essay are, firstly, to depict the manner by which the Soviet regime controlled research institutions, publications and themes in the domain of history and, secondly, to chart the shifting positions concerning discussion of key events in Soviet history. The archive and the textbook have been singled out as exemplifying Soviet policies. The essay is interpretative and illustrative; it does not lay any claim to serving as an exhaustive chronicle of the histories of history in the USSR.

Arup Banerji In exploring some of the contributory causes, mechanisms and impediments to privatisation in the Russian Federation, this paper argues that the process has been borne forward by the strength of a predominantly political calculus. By grounding the pro gramme in the free distribution of vouchers, the government has hoped to replace conservative directors of the Soviet- era with a shareholding citizenry and thereby impart an irreversibility to the reform process as a whole. The redistribution of state property is occurring in the absence of a requisitely clear legal framework, of external controls over management by shareholders and of mature financial institutions. This has furthered a novel form of bureaucratic dominance over state industry and quasi-criminal primacy over the distributive network. Consequently, this pivotal reformist strand has gained a formal, numerical success but lacks the attributes to underpin economic transformation in the direction of genuine private management.